BARADOR, Bolivia – The hot, muggy weather was making a bad situation worse for Maria and her children.

Operation Blessing's Kumar Periasamy helps a local fill a container with water from the new purification system.

The family had just lost their home and crops to recent floods and now living in temporary housing made from plastic sheets and a tin roof. They were one of 1,000 families forced to leave their homes due to the rising floodwaters.

To make matters even more difficult, their temporary home was beside a dirt road where constant traffic kicked up dirt and debris.

“Everything was covered in sand inside their small tent,” said OBI’s Kumar Periasamy who was on the ground assisting with relief efforts.

“My children cough all the time because of the dust,” Maria said. “We just can’t leave the house.”

Kumar, OBI’s director for international disaster relief, arrived in Barador earlier this month with two water purification systems purchased with Water Missions International and shipped free of charge by global delivery partner, DHL.

Combined, the two units purify 20,000 gallons of clean water a day or 600 gallons an hour from each machine.

A side-by-side comparision shows the difference in water quality before and after the purification process.

Maria, who has been taking care of her children for three months while her husband recovers from a broken leg in the hospital, says she didn’t know how much longer they could have survived in that situation, especially without clean drinking water.

“Water only comes once in three days,” Maria said as she pointed out the empty barrels outside her tent which she uses to collect rain water. “It’s difficult.”

Initial census reports underestimated how many people were living in this dire situation. Carlos, the director of humanitarian coordination with the city of Trinidad says more clean water is needed immediately and the purification systems are a great help.

“This is good news,” one local school teacher said about the new water purification system. “We will tell everyone in the community there is water for all of us.”

The water systems not only solved an immediate problem but also relieved stress on the already-taxed Trinidad water department.

“We were told not to take any more water from Trinidad,” Carlos said. “This has been a relief.”

HOW YOU CAN HELP
Help break the cycle of suffering by giving toward Operation Blessing's water wells and cisterns program. A gift of $1,000 can drill a well for villages and supply families with safe, clean drinking water.